The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting packagings that are not freely stackable, in particular stickpacks, from a packaging producing apparatus to a transport container in a transport packaging station with simultaneous compacting arrangement of the packaging, the packagings being produced by a packaging producing apparatus having at least two dropping channels which are uniformly or substantially uniformly spaced apart from each other by a centre-to-centre distance P, the apparatus comprising a first transport element having at least one compartment group for receiving the packagings dispensed by the packaging producing apparatus and for transporting the packagings in the direction of a transport packaging station; a transfer unit for transferring the packagings from the packaging producing apparatus to the at least one compartment group of the first transport element and for forming stacks in the compartment group, and a second transport element having at least one compartment group for transporting the packagings to the transport packaging station, wherein each of the compartments of the compartment groups of the first and second transport elements have a width that is equal or substantially equal to the width of the packagings.
The invention further relates to a method for transporting packagings that are not freely stackable from a packaging producing apparatus having at least two dropping channels that are uniformly or substantially uniformly spaced apart from each other by a centre-to-centre distance P, to a transport container in a transport packaging station with compacting arrangement of the packaging.
In the context of the invention, packaging that is not freely stackable is any type of packaging that cannot form a stack with further like packagings without auxiliary means. Such packagings are typically deformable packagings, that is, they do not dispose of a dimensionally stable surface. Such a deformable packaging can adapt to the contents therein or change depending on the shape or position of the contents. Examples of such packaging are stickpacks, bags such as teabags, sacks, tubes or nets. For filling material, particularly fluids, gel-like products, bulk goods such as pellets, granulate or powder, and pieced goods such as sweets or capsules can be considered. Packagings that are not freely stackable are also those that are not freely stackable due to the shape thereof, such as balls or cylinders, if the stacks are formed by placing the lateral surfaces on top of each other. Without auxiliary means, the individual packagings slip while forming stacks and do not remain in the desired arrangement on top of each other. Deformable packagings belong to the packagings that are not freely stackable in the sense of the invention, in any case, even if there may be cases where a stack of a few packagings is stable even without auxiliary means.
The apparatus of the present invention serves to transport packagings that are not freely stackable from a packaging producing apparatus, which produces such packagings, to a transport container in a transport packaging station, in which a plurality of said packagings are combined for transport or for other purposes, for instance into a sales unit or a secondary packaging, wherein the packagings are compacted during transport from the packaging producing apparatus to the transport packaging station. Examples of such transport containers can be cartons, bins, boxes or containers.
The packaging production in the sense of the invention not only comprises the production of the packaging but also the filling thereof with the goods to be packaged.
A compacting of the packaging means a reduction of the distance of the stacks of packagings to each other in the transport process. The distance of ready-packed products when exiting the packaging producing apparatus depends on this apparatus. This distance, however, can be larger than desired for the further packaging process, in particular the further packaging in a transport container. This is explained in more detail using stickpacks as an example:
Stickpack production is vertical, that is, within the packaging production apparatus the produced packagings are transported due to gravity specifically within a plurality of channels arranged in parallel. Measured from the centre of a channel to the centre of the adjacent channel, referred to as the “centre-to-centre distance” P below, these channels have the same lateral distance. In the case of stickpacks, due to the production of the stickpacks, the distance between two stickpacks when exiting the packaging producing machine is approximately twice as large as the width of a stickpack. When exiting the packaging producing machine, stickpacks from the parallel channels are simultaneously collected by a transfer unit, and placed in horizontal alignment into compartments of a compartment group of the first transport element. The number of filled compartments corresponds to the number of dropping channels. Similar to the dropping channels, these compartments, which have a width that is approximately equal to the width of the stickpacks, have a centre-to-centre distance, that is, a distance from the centre of one compartment to the centre of the adjacent compartment, X=P. This process is repeated until stacks having the desired number of stickpacks are formed in the compartments. The compartment group is transported further to a further transfer unit, which places the stickpacks into a carton. While disposed in the compartments, the stickpacks form ordered stacks because the width of the compartments is approximately equal to the width of the stickpacks, during further packaging of the stickpacks in the transport container the problem arises that, due to the distance of the individual stacks of stickpacks to each other, the stickpacks slip when being placed into a transport container, and do not remain in stacks. Therefore, an arrangement is desired which allows the stacks to remain as such, and not to slip.
For this purpose, for transporting stickpacks from a loading station at the producing machine, to a carton filling station, document EP 2 055 637 A1 proposes an apparatus to be used that comprises a circular conveyor track, a drive element, and first and second operating means. The circular conveyor track has at least two groups of compartments the number of which is a multiple of the number of the dropping channels, the centre-to-centre distance of which is P/2, and which are designed as compartment segments on belts. The drive elements drive the individual compartment groups independently, and position the compartment groups alternating, first at a loading station and subsequently at a carton filling station. The first operating means collects stickpacks at the loading station, first places them in every second compartment of a first compartment group, which is formed on a first transport belt, and thus forms stacks. When the desired stack height is attained, the first compartment group moves by a distance P/2 in the transport direction, whereupon the respectively second compartments, which are empty till then, can be filled. The compartment group thus filled is then moved to a carton filling station by the drive element, where second operating means push the stack out of the compartments over into a carton. While the first compartment group travels to the carton filling station, a second compartment group which is located on a second transport belt that runs in parallel to the first transport belt, travels to the loading station, and is filled there by the first operating means, in the manner described for the first compartment group.
With the solution according to document EP 2 055 637, by moving the compartment group in the transport direction, a compaction therefore takes place directly in the loading station. Two independently driven compartment groups running next to each other on two transport belts provide that when one compartment group is unloaded at the cartoner, a further group can be loaded at the loading station.
This solution is rigid and inflexible. If better utilisation of the capacities of the loading station and the cartoner is desired, and a third and fourth compartment group are added which are loaded while the first, or respectively the second, compartment group are moving from the loading station to the cartoner, it is necessary to dispose a third and fourth transport belt in parallel next to the first two transport belts. As a result, the apparatus is expansive. Additionally, the operating means require a high degree of mobility in order to allow filling, or respectively emptying of the groups of compartments at the different belts. The arrangement possibilities for stickpack machines with loading station and cartoner are severely limited. Only a serial arrangement is possible because of the transport belts connecting the two devices together. Furthermore, as the transport belts are designed as belts having compartment segments, the apparatus cannot be used for other products, requiring different compartment sizes, without extensive remodeling measures because in each case the entire transport belt must be exchanged.